One Last Chance
by Pen Sil
Summary: After everything was said and done and the Pharaoh Atem had finally reached the afterlife he realizes his mistake. He makes a pact with the goddess Isis and is reincarnated. One problem: he can't remember his friends. Post-canon
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

><p>When the royalty of Ancient Egypt died, they did not end up in the usual Paradise that was for the commoners. It wasn't that the commoners did not get paradise, because they did, if that was what they deserved, and maybe… just maybe their paradise would have been better in some circumstances. Why? Because the royalty of Egypt – the royalty of any ancient culture – had to spend the rest of eternity (and beyond that) with their respectful deities (of course, if you were not Egyptian royalty you would not spend the rest of eternity (and beyond) with Egyptian deities).<p>

And the deities might not have issues the same way humans did, but they did have flaws in character. Let us take a look at Isis for example, the powerful magician, the protective goddess, the one who helps people in need in any way. She was wise and beautiful and yet she bore an unmistakable pride when it came to games. The problem was, she always lost.

And this is where we start, because as our main character, who is not a goddess or a god, but the last pharaoh to ever enter this holy place, gets used to a place he does not feel is home he notices all these things. He notices that Isis is always playing games with different people, that Osiris is shaking his head in patience at her, that Nut, Geb and Shu have a tendency to drink for weeks, that Horus kept preaching about rules to anyone that wanted to hear (here Seto was a constant listener) and that Hathor and Seth argued for hours. But as the days passed by he noticed something as well – something about himself.

Although he had all his memories, he was with his family and his friends (well the ones who had died so far) he realized that something was missing. Something very important. He would never see those people who had helped him again. His friends.

"Aww… is little Atemmi sulky-wulky again?" Geb said, draping and arm around the former pharaoh. The god stank of alcohol.

As he managed to get the first drunken god off of him, the next (Nut) leaned on him. "But that can't be!" the sky-goddess gushed. "He wanted to be here himself, didn't he?"

Atem was about to rise and walk away in annoyance when Shu – surprisingly sober – came half-flying, half-jumping through the air and stumbled into Geb. He had always been quite a klutz. Not even stopping to apologize he exclaimed, quite cheerfully; "Hey, Geb, I bet you can't light that tree over there on fire!"

The earth god's eyes narrowed. "Just you wait and see you damn'd… you damn'd… " he stopped in his tracks and then seemed to decide that the insults could wait, "I'll show you!"

And then he turned, narrowed his eyes on the tree and set fire to Horus' hair instead. Imagine the chaos. No, wait… don't.

As Horus chased the two drunken gods around, all the while yelling at them for ruining perfect order, Shu draped his arm around Atem. "If you miss them so much why not just ask Isis to reincarnate you?"

Atem sighed and shook his head. "There is no way she'd do that."

"You could always play a game with her," the god said. "You are the king of games after all. She doesn't stand a chance."

"But…" Atem hesitated and something seemed to grow in his chest. Maybe it was a possibility.

"Come on! Say yes!"

"Alright."

"That's the old Atem!"

The challenge wasn't to ask her, or rather to challenge, her. Isis loved a good game so much she wouldn't even hesitate before saying yes, especially to Atem, because he had never said yes to her when she had challenged him – which annoyed her to no end. The challenge lay in getting her to say yes to his conditions.

"But why?" she asked, her blue eyes swimming with worry when he had explained. She glanced once at her husband and Atem caught him shrugging.

"Well…" he shrugged. "I want to… I want to…" he hesitated. "I miss them. And with the rules in the afterlife I'll never get the chance to see them again."

"Eternity is a long while without people you love." The worried look on her face disappeared and something smug entered her eyes. _Uh-oh._ "Someone in particular? If I remember there was one who helped you the most… what was her name –"

"Isis," that was a warning from her husband. "Leave the boy alone. Play with him but leave his personal affairs alone – we've meddled enough." And then he turned his eyes to Atem. "You belong here, Atem. But if you are not happy here, then we will not keep you. There will be consequences and you won't be able to meet your friends until you have been sent here for the second time."

Atem nodded. "I accept that."

"And now!" Isis exclaimed, beaming. "We play!"

Three minutes and seven moves later the duel had finished – Atem was victorious and Isis was pouting. She hated to lose. "Fine, I'll send you back," she said. "But even though you will remember everything about your life as pharaoh, you will have to fight for the memories about your friends."

"That's not fair!" Shu exclaimed.

The goddess sent him a good look for that one. "He wants to go back, this is my condition!"

"But –"

Atem put a hand on the god's shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "If I remembered them I wouldn't be able to stay away until my soul had been returned to the afterlife. Thank you."

Shu smiled. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

* * *

><p>well. Here I am once again with a new fic. This time a YGO fic. I am working on ONE more of those and then I don't have others. At least not right now. As you can see on my profile I have a few other projects, though I have some others at the side.<p>

Speaking of my profile and **_PLEASE READ THIS SO I DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER UNNEEDED QUESTIONS. _** On my profile you can see when my next chapter will be uploaded. This story has already been finished, and will be uploaded once every week. If my beta is online to deal with my grammar.

Anyways. This was suggested by a friend of mine in a forum and I will add the link to that site later.

Anyways gtg. Thanks to my beta xD

I don't own anything and please review xD

- Pen


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

><p>The streets of Domino were boiling hot and empty. In this weather no one was out. Only people with a swimming pool or who lived by the beach would move outside, and yet a young man still wandered into the Game Shop owned by Mutou Sugoroku – and I can tell you, the old man got a shock.<p>

Why? Because the young man, although a little taller and with icy blue eyes(1), looked exactly like his very own grandson. And yet… he somehow managed to remain calm.

"Welcome, young man," he said.

The boy with the icy blue eyes looked up and nodded in his direction. He seemed quite serious for his young age, the elder mused. "I haven't seen you in my shop before," he said.

"I just moved to this city," the boy answered as he took a closer look at some cards. "I passed this shop and it looked familiar…" he turned to the old man, "has it ever been on television?"

Sugoroku laughed heartily at the question. "Plenty of times," he said. "You see, the King of Games lives in this house."

"The king of what?"

Mutou was taken aback by this. "You've never heard of the title before?" The young man shook his head, puzzled. There was a loud noise from upstairs and the sound of a very imaginative curse. The old man turned to look towards the stairs and then sighed.

There was the sound of the door and when he turned back to the shop the only thing that represented the young man who looked so much like his own grandson was the small pack of cards on the counter.

* * *

><p>"You don't think the old man is going crazy at home, do you, Yugi?" Honda inquired, knowing when his classmate finished his story.<p>

The young duelist shook his head. "No, I have a feeling something is going on," he said. "I just don't know what it is yet."

"Now that we don't have Atem here any more, it'll be a problem if something happens," Jonouchi said. The blonde actually looked worried for a change.

The door to the classroom opened and Anzu entered. Quickly answering a few 'good morning's, she hurried to the back of the room. Before any of the guys could open their mouths she opened her bag and found a small leather pouch. Ignoring their questioning looks. she opened it and let its contents fall onto Yugi's table with a rattling sound.

The three stiffened. "Anzu…" Honda slowly said, staring at the necklace. "Isn't that…?"

She nodded, her lips thin.

"But didn't he…?" Yugi trailed off.

"He did."

Jonouchi studied her for a moment. Though Anzu and Yugi had been friends the longest, the two had come to an understanding and he knew what the ancient spirit's departure had done to her. She was paler than she used to be and her eyes were swimming with worry. "Where did you find it?"

"On my desk," she said. "Beside the only picture I have of… well, him."

They all remembered that picture. They had been in the park last summer, playing soccer, having fun. Yugi had insisted that the other occupant of his body took a few hours out in the sun, had fun and enjoyed life instead of moping around inside his puzzle. The spirit had reluctantly said yes, though he (and all their friends) knew that the boy just didn't want to play soccer.

After lunch Atem and Jou had practically glomped Anzu – okay, they _had _glomped her – from each side. The girl had been completely unaware of their evil plan and they had effectively trapped her. And then she had caught a glimpse of Honda who was holding a camera. "Smile!" he had told them and she had thought _oh, well… _and joined in.

The three grinning faces was one of her most treasured pieces. She had wanted one with all of them on, but she had known that would never happen.

"What was it doing on your desk?"

"I don't know, Yugi," she said. "He took it with him, didn't he?"

The teen nodded, looking troubled. "Grandpa says he saw him in the shop yesterday," he mumbled.

"What?"

"That was our reaction as well," Honda muttered. "But that still doesn't explain why it appeared at your place."

"Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Anzu gave it to him," a gentle voice offered. They all turned to a white-haired, hazel-eyed teenager.

"That makes sense," Anzu said and slowly pulled at the chain. "But what is it doing here in the first place?"

This none of them could answer. "I guess we'll know in time, won't we?" Bakura said, still smiling.

"By the way, Bakura," Jou said. "You haven't seen anything of your old friend, have you?"

"Nope."

"Good."

* * *

><p>They did not get a lot planned during school, but Yugi suggested that they went to the Game Shop and discussed what to do from there on.<p>

"I'm sorry, Yugi," Anzu said. "I have some things to do for my mother, I can't –" She stopped herself and shook her head. "Tell me what you figure out, okay?" And then she hurried off.

The four boys exchanged a look. "Okay," Honda said. "That was not even convincing."

"She's obviously conflicted," Jou argued. "You know how she felt about Atem."

The brunette grinned. "When did you become such an expert on girls?"

"Why you-!"

"But it's true," Bakura joined in.

"What?"

Yugi sighed. "About Anzu's feelings for Atem."

Jou and Honda both looked incredulous. "What? I was right?"

"He was right?"

"Don't look so surprised!"

"Well, you're surprised too!"

Deciding to step in now was probably one of Yugi and Bakura's better ideas – at least for today. "Guys!" the two boys exclaimed at the same time, pushing the fighting parties apart. "Calm down," Bakura continued. "This will haunt Anzu for a while…" he added and saw the immediate effect; both boys visibly relaxed and anger was replaced with worry. "We should figure this out as quickly as possible, right?"

* * *

><p>But they finished nothing that day, which really wasn't that surprising, since they only had the information they got from Sugoroku and Anzu, and they couldn't go far with that.<p>

Not that they needed to worry, right?

Everything would go as planned, and nothing would happen that would endanger anyone – at least not in the way people had been endangered under the Trials of the Pharaoh.

Isis smiled to herself and ignored the weird looks her husband sent her. She hoped they'd meet soon.

* * *

><p>(1)On one of the last volumes of the manga I noticed that his eyes were this colour<p>

So... here is first chapter xD hope you enjoyed it. The chapters will be a little irreguler due to summer vacation and not knowing when I'm online and stuff but I'll make sure to have a chapter up each week. Don't be mad if it's a day late. It's written and will be out.

Thanks for awesome reviews xD and thanks to my beta

- Pen


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

><p>She was worried. She had been worried ever since it had appeared on her bedside table. A part of her told her not to be worried. Maybe he had come back. Maybe this wasn't something that could go wrong. But… everything that had ever involved him had had consequences – she knew that very well.<p>

It was eating away at her and she didn't like it. If he was back, then … why? Why would he be here? Wasn't it his choice to move on? Kicking the fence, she turned around to walk back down to class. Mumbling angrily to herself, cursing Atem all the while, she was only half way down the first stair when a voice made her jump.

"Hey! What have I ever done to offend you?"

She stumbled and almost fell down the rest couple of steps, spinning when she regained her balance. What met her was not what she had expected. She didn't know what she had expected. Atem the way she had seen him last? With completely dark skin and clad as a pharaoh? That would be stupid and she knew it.

He really _did_ look like Yugi. He was taller, had the same air he had had then, not only of pride, but … but an air of… royalty? His skin was not as dark as when he had first lived, and there were Japanese features, like when he had been in Yugi's body, but the hair and the voice were the same. His eyes were the most different thing about him. They still had their old form and intensity but they were blue. Clear blue, like something edited on a computer.

"Well?"

Her throat had suddenly run dry and her tongue seemed to be nailed to the roof of her mouth. So he really was here. But…. Why was she the one to meet him? That was just unfair! _Play dumb._

"Y-your name is Atem?" _stop stuttering._

He nodded.

"O-oh…" she blinked. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to insult you."

He raised an eyebrow. "And what, if I may ask, have my poor name-brother done to deserve such wrath?"

Looking away she glared at the wall. "If you must know, he broke a promise," she said. And then she had to bite her lower lip to hold back tears. She hadn't cried when he had left and she wasn't going to start now. She just wanted to get out of this situation. But first…

"What is your family name?" she asked as she turned back to face him.

His eyes glinted with curiosity. "Sennen."

"Are you new here?"

"Yes, I moved here from Tokyo."

"Year?"

"Twelve."

She nodded. "Thank you, Sennen-san," she said and bowed as it was custom. "Now please excuse me, I have a class to attend to."

She made it another five steps when he called after her. "Don't you think it's extremely rude to ask for someone's name without telling one's own in return?"

She stopped and looked up at him. "It is," she admitted, and then she couldn't help the smile that spread on her face. "I'm Anzu Mazaki."

* * *

><p>"You what?"<p>

Sighing in exasperation, she glared at Jou. "You heard me, right?" and then she couldn't keep her mask anymore. "Are you growing deaf too, Jou?"

His eyes narrowed, but it seemed that he managed to keep his eyes on the goal. "So?"

"What?" She scribbled a formula down and reached for her calculator, which he snatched out of her reach before she could get to it. "What?"

His brown eyes were still narrowed. "You said you talked to him, what did you talk about?"

She shrugged. "Just… he didn't recognize me, okay? So it doesn't matter, it was just … just weird." As a second thought she added: "Now hand it over!"

He hesitated for a moment, and then dropped it into her outstretched hand. "You say he didn't recognize you?"

She nodded absently as she typed the formula into the calculator. Nodding at the result, she scribbled it onto her paper.

"Don't you find that weird?"

"I do."

"Shouldn't you be hurt?"

"I am," she said. "But he hasn't really done anything but hurt me – unintentionally of course."

"You're a real masochist, you know that?"

"Shut up and do your assignments!"

"Yes ma'am!"

The weird thing about Jou was that although he was stupid, math was one of the simplest things in his world – which was why they were the only ones in their little group of friends who still had math (1). But she didn't mind. She never really would. Jou was one of the people she relaxed around. Her best friend, someone she could trust when she was hurt, and someone she could smile with when things were going fantastic.

* * *

><p>"So what will we do from here?"<p>

They met with Yugi and Honda by the shoe lockers, standing close to each other, whispering, as the many students passed them on their way to freedom. Jou and Anzu exchanged a look. "Well," the girl whispered. "You guys will just have to meet him. We have to know if he can recognize any of you. Maybe it's just me that he doesn't remember."

"No way!" Yugi exclaimed loudly. "I swear to whatever god may exist in this world he would never, ever forget about you!"

Several students sent the King of Games a weird glance, but they were used to weird things happening around the small fellow and quickly shrugged it off, except for one who didn't.

"Mazaki-san?"

They had all turned back to their little chat but immediately spun in the direction of the deep voice that they had once known so well. Someone who had _never_ said Anzu's name in such a polite way, had never said her family name and never used an honorific when it came to his vessel and his own friends.

The young woman was the first to react, as her friends seemed to be frozen. "Ah," she said, with a smile. "We meet again."

A smirk spread on his face. "So we do," Atem said.

"How was your day?"

"Quite good, thank you," he said. "You're all politeness now, regretting your insult?"

"Insult?" her friends exclaimed.

Anzu shrank a bit and a blush covered her cheeks. "Well… well," she sighed and then realized how to get out of her little corner. "I'm sorry! I'm being rude again!" she exclaimed. "I should introduce you guys!" And so she did, noticing that Atem did not seem to recognize any of these people, not even when she mentioned that Yugi had won several Duel Monster tournaments. The guy had never even heard of any of these tournaments, although he claimed to have played the game a bit.

What _did_ catch his attention, though, was the fact that he and Yugi looked quite a lot like each other. He seemed puzzled but quickly shrugged it off as another coincidence. Of course, as he had nothing to suspect, why wouldn't he?

"I hear you were in my grandpa's shop, yesterday," Yugi said.

Atem looked puzzled at first but then brightened. "Yeah, quite a pleasant old fellow," he said, "he reminds me of someone I once knew."

"Who?" Anzu asked as she put her indoor shoes away in her locker.

His eyes darted for a moment before they settled on her face. "Someone my dad worked with."

She raised an eyebrow. Was he talking about Shimon? No… that couldn't be. "Worked? Did something happen?"

He hesitated and then something seemed to move in his icy blue eyes. "Would you consider being nosy as rude?"

Huffing she crossed her arms. He was avoiding the question. "For your information, Sennen-san," she declared in a stern voice, "I was being curious, and _you_ were the one who brought it up in the first place. Sorry for being observant."

She turned on her heal and stalked out of the school with Atem on her heels. Jou, Honda and Yugi were left behind, sniggering. "I know, we should be worried," Honda said. "But it seems that now that he doesn't have to save anyone he's quite ready to flirt with her."

Jou's eyes turned stern and he straightened. "I bet two weeks of burgers that it'll take a month," he said.

"Three weeks," Honda said.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "One and a half."

The two stared at him. "Weeks?"

The small boy snorted. "Months!"

Someone suddenly appeared behind the young game king. "I'd say it'll take three months."

All three spun. "Oh, hi Bakura," Yugi greeted.

"Care to elaborate as to why the pharaoh is back and in his own body?"

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, Mazaki-san," he said. "I did not mean to offend you."<p>

Turning back in his direction she fixed him with a heated glare. "Then what?"

He stared at her for a moment. What was with this girl? Why was she… and then he stopped. Behind the angry glare she fixed him with, he saw something very different… He saw a girl curled up beneath a thick blanket, crying her eyes out.

Averting his gaze, he lowered it to the ground. He felt his hands clench. Any other person he would not have reacted to in this way but… but what he saw behind her eyes was not something he could stare down, mostly because when he had seen it, a fierce need to pull that girl out of her blankets and make her smile had arisen in him. "I did not know that my teasing would affect you in such a way."

She sighed and smiled. "It's okay," she said. "I guess I overreacted as well." She hesitated but stayed silent after that.

Studying her for a moment, he decided that he would get along with this girl just fine. There was something that pained her, certainly, but he was sure that if he could gain her trust, he would be able to help her. "Would you allow me to walk you home?" he asked.

She hesitated, her cheeks reddening, and she looked back at her friends. They were just exiting the building, smirking in her general direction. She did not like that look.

"Anzu, would you mind if we took our little meeting during lunch tomorrow?" Yugi asked. "Honda says he just bought this new game yesterday and we want to try it."

She raised an eyebrow. "And you had completely forgotten about it?" she asked her brunette friend.

He halted for a moment. "Yeah – yeah, you know, with everything going on, I completely sweat it out."

The girl's eyebrow shot higher up on her forehead and Atem decided that everlasting pain would befall her friends if he did not take Anzu with him at that moment. "Come on, they obviously have other plans," he said and started pulling her with him by the wrist.

Anzu couldn't help but smile. That was an awfully bold move for someone who had just met her, and she wondered if his memories were still in there somewhere. She saw her friends grinning in her direction and she realized what they had done. They had sold her out! What if he was just some evil mastermind who wanted to kill them all and chase the Pharaoh into the afterlife?

"Mazaki-san?" his blue eyes were suddenly dark with worry, and he immediately let go of her wrist. "Are you okay? You don't look so good…"

She sighed and absentmindedly rubbed her wrist. She could still feel the warmth from his hand. "I'm fine…" she said. "I just –" she trailed off. "They're just –" shaking her head she turned her eyes to the end of the road. "Never mind."

"You know," she felt a hand on her head. "Even though we've only just met, you're welcome to share whatever it is that is troubling your mind."

"Thank you, Atem," she sighed, "but I just –" her hand moved to cover her mouth and she felt her cheeks redden.

A small grin broke out on his face and the worry left his eyes. He glanced up at the sky for a moment. "I've never really liked my family name."

And that was the only invitation to use his first name she got. But she wasn't the only one who, after that, started to use first names…

* * *

><p>(1)I'm using the Danish school system as draft for their school. You take a class on several levels (C, B, A, where A is the most difficult) and depending on what level you take it will open new educations when you get to University. The harder a level you choose the longer you will have it.<p>

Yeah, I just felt like breaking my own rules and uploading a new chapter in the middle of the week so I bugged my beta to go through it. Here ya go xD chapter two is up! ISn't it lovely and haven't you missed me and PLEASE leave a review it doesn't hurt to write a few words on the context. and now I just sound like a clingy girlfriend. Oh well.

Thanks, JJ!

c'a in the weekend

- Pen


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

><p>The hallway was buzzing with students on their way to the canteen. They were discussing what kind of crappy food the ladies there would sell, hoping, not for the first or the last time, that it would be healthy and tasty. Or that the canteen had burned down during classes.<p>

Atem halted in the door to his class, and the two boys in front of him turned back with raised eyebrows. "I'll meet you guys outside," he said. "I need to go get my social studies book from my locker."

Honda's eyebrow shut further up his forehead – amazing really. "What do you need that for?"

"Yeah, we don't have classes for another thirty minutes," Yugi added.

Atem rubbed his neck. "Yeah, but I have to read up on a subject," he muttered.

His two friends exchanged a look. "Yup," Honda said, "Anzu has officially cursed you."

Atem rolled his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Yugi said, with a sly look on his face. "See you in class."

And they were gone, had vanished into the crowd. He did not like that. Two months here and he knew that they were hiding something from him. At times they seemed to know things about him that they were not supposed to know. Sometimes they exchanged worried glances, and at other times they seemed to be working on a plan that showed him…. Well. He didn't know what it showed him, but it was as if they viewed him as a friend, and not a friend they had only known for two months, but a friend they had known for years.

He shook his head and headed through the crowd. It wasn't like he wasn't keeping a secret himself. Having memories from an earlier life was not something you talked about. He missed Mana at times.

Turning a corner, he came into one of the empty halls. Heaving a sigh of relief, he quickened his pace. His locker was at the other end of the school and he would have to hurry if he wanted to even finish reading the pages he needed to read. But then…

Movement caught his eye, and he stopped. Peering through the glass in the door to the gym, he tried not to be surprised. He knew that Anzu was pretty, but as she danced across the gym, completely absorbed in what she was doing, and _glowing_, he couldn't help but think that she was beautiful.

"Oh that's right!" Jou's voice caught him off guard and he actually jumped. "You don't know that she dances."

Atem bit his tongue. Had they kept it from him on purpose? "She's good," he admitted.

The blonde teen grinned. "She is," he said. "She's the best at our school. Wants to go to New York after we graduate."

Atem gaped. "What about college? She's always studying so hard…"

Jou rubbed his chin in thought. "I think she said something about…." He trailed off. "I think it's the security in knowing that if she can't make it as a dancer, she can always get an education."

"Sounds like a plan," Atem said. Jou nodded. For a moment, they watched her dance before Atem realized something. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the canteen eating?"

Jou snorted and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the gym. "I'm here because I'm worried about her," he admitted. Atem raised an eyebrow. "Some guys have been coming and going, she told me. She said that she has caught them here, staring at her. She's my best friend and I am not about to let anything happen to her." His coffee-brown eyes were angry.

"Tell me if anything happens," Atem heard himself say. "I'll keep an eye on her when you don't have time."

"Thanks, man."

"Any time. Now… I have a book to pick up, so I better be off."

"See you in math."

* * *

><p>The days moved on again, and once in a while Atem found himself accompanying Anzu to the gym, standing guard outside, knowing that if anyone tried anything with her, he would be there to help her. But nothing happened, and, finally, Anzu decided that it was time they stopped their little macho game of playing bodyguards, as she called it.<p>

"We're just worried about you," Atem told her, one day as they were walking home. He had found that they did not live far from each other, and he would walk her home, while she met up with Yugi in the morning. It was, apparently, a tradition they had had since they had been young and he did not intend to break it.

"I know," she sighed, "but it is getting ridiculous, and I've had enough action for the last couple of years."

"Oh?" this was new.

Her cheeks reddened and she looked away. "Never mind," she muttered. "Have you considered joining a club yourself?"

He blinked, thrown off for a moment. It almost shocked him how she changed subject. It was obviously something she did not want him to know, and it confused him. "Well, I haven't really thought about it."

She gaped at him. "But you're – you're so good at sports! Okay… you're good at everything but…" She trailed off, not knowing quite what to say.

Snorting, he sent her a look that clearly told her what he was about to say. "Says the girl who gets several offers from different clubs each month."

He got a good glare for that one. "Which you can't really know, since you've only been here for one and a half months."

"_Two_ months and I can already see the pattern," he declared. "You also receive a few love letters in your locker from time to time and though you don't really think about it you're quite popular."

"You notice quite a lot."

"I like to keep my eyes open," he said. "And the locker room can open quite interesting subjects."

"Sounds like the girl's toilet. Though," she smirked, "it's probably easier to pick up gossip there because people don't always know that you are there."

"Ohh…" he said in mock surprise. "So I'm not the only one keeping tabs on that place."

Her cheeks heated and she felt like he had just pointed out a flaw of her. Which she had, but it wasn't easy when it was a guy you had been crushing on for years, and had such a difficult relationship with. Hell, she probably knew more about him than he did. The real question was; was he reincarnated, some villain taking advantage of her, them, or was it all a coincidence and did it have no connection to the man she had fallen in love with?

"What do you think of Ancient Egypt?" The words were out of her mouth before she realized it.

He blinked in surprise at this, but then his expression changed. "Where did that come from?" he asked in a low voice. It was a tone she had heard few times in her life, only from him, and not since he had come back. It surprised her so much she stopped and stared at him, couldn't keep her nonchalant façade when he used that tone, especially when he had never used it on her. Even when he had scolded her, his voice had been gentle.

But this told her something else… if he had _no_ recollection of his past he wouldn't have reacted in such a way. "We-well… you know," she stuttered. "I was just thinking… about – about history. Yeah, since that big history project was coming – coming up, I thought about using something from ancient Egypt and since you're… well… one of the smartest in our group I wanted to ask you if you wanted to work with me."

He raised an eyebrow at this. He was obviously suspicious now, especially because of her stuttering and rambling, but he seemed to shrug it off and decided to tease her. "Don't you think it's a bit cruel to go behind the back of our friends?"

She didn't take his bait. "They'll live, and…" she forced a grin. "Is that a yes?"

"You bet."

* * *

><p>"Yugi?"<p>

She was talking even before the ear piece of his cell phone had reached its correct destination. "Yeah. What's up?" She seemed extremely worried.

"He knows something."

"Who? What?"

"Atem." And she lashed into a long explanation of what had happened.

* * *

><p>xD not a lot to say here xD just another chapter.<p>

Thanks for the few reviews I've recieved! And thanks to my beta!

I'm off to finish my one man harry potter marathon xD watched the last movie today it was AMAZING!

- Pen


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

><p>He had never really thought of describing any of his new friends, or even thought to question how quickly he had become a natural part of their group, how quickly they had chosen to trust him with their personal problems. Yes, he had started noticing, from the very first day actually, how they seemed to keep a secret from him, but this one he had quickly shrugged off as he had something he himself could not easily tell anyone. He had, of course, heard rumours about how strange things had seemed to happen around Yugi and his friends since their second year at the school, since they had become friends, and Anzu <em>had <em>asked him a weird question and he would be following up on that after Christmas; while they were doing their assignment. He wasn't afraid that someone was trying to exploit him, though, as he could feel no evil intentions coming from any of them.

But then Friday came and Yugi and Anzu invited everyone to sleepover at Yugi's. Anzu would do the cooking while Jou, Honda and Atem himself would just have to do the shopping (of course they were all paying a fair share of the food - Jou and Honda had to pay extra) during the early hours of Saturday. The little game party – as it turned out to be – would happen the following night.

His little trip with putting his friends in boxes started that Saturday. It was the first weekend he would spend with them and the first time it would be completely free from the subject 'school'. Midterms were coming soon, which was why Yugi had decided to do this. "After all, Anzu will be forcing us to pull all-nighters each weekend from now on," he had added.

He didn't know what triggered it. Maybe it was the casual clothes or just the lovely weather outside, but as his two friends came running down the street to where they were supposed to meet him, they were completely late too, he just felt the urge to do so.

"Sorry, man," Jou said when they reached him. "The idiot had to try and flirt with my sister again and I had to kick his ass for that."

Yup. That was Jou through and through. Protective of his friends and over-protective of his sister, whom Atem had only met once. And if a friend flirted with the sister then it was the friend who was in for a beating. Although Jonouchi Katsuya was a bit rough around the edges, liked a good fight and had a big mouth, which he opened without thinking, he had a heart bigger than anyone and more courage than Atem himself. He was also smarter than he gave away and very good at math. Had he been his friend three thousand years ago, he would have had a very high standing in court and would have been one of the strongest fighters in his kingdom. Atem was sure of that.

"I swear, I was only talking to her," Honda exclaimed, rubbing his cheek. "Besides you should be keeping an eye on Otogi and Kaiba, not me!"

"Trust me," the blonde growled. "I am."

Honda Hiroto wasn't much different, as his friend he had good intentions and some might even describe him as chivalrous, but he was blunt and had a sharp tongue, something that easily angered Jou – much to the amusement of the others. He was great with a gun and spent weekends practicing. Atem had considered placing him as a good assassin because of his skills, but with his blunt nature it probably wouldn't have happened.

The shopping took quite a while, especially since the two boys kept sending him weird looks and snickering all the while. It annoyed him to no end as he suspected that they were scheming something, but apparently one of them had more serious matters to discuss.

"Say… Atem," Jou said at some point and forced him to slow a little down so Honda, who was looking through meat, wouldn't overhear them. "How are you and Anzu?"

He looked down at the note she had written them with what they needed. He would have to play this off so they wouldn't start pestering. "We're good," he said, "why do you ask?"

His friend rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that crap. You know what I mean."

"I'm pretty sure I don't."

Jou groaned. "Relationship, your relationship."

"We're friends, duh."

"Don't you 'duh' me you idiot," the blond idiot exclaimed. "You're both _obviously_ attracted to each other. You've been flirting since the start."

"Oh…. When did you become so into that kinda stuff?"

"Quit mocking me. Just tell me straight, I'm worried."

"You mean, you're acting like an older brother?"

"I am, in fact, an older brother."

"Yes, yes." Atem sighed deeply. "But if you must know, yes, I am attracted to her, yes I would like a relationship with her, but no, I don't plan to start it now. She's… I've seen something in her eyes that I have to deal with first."

Jou nodded. "It's been there for a year," he said. "She's hiding it well but she's lonely. There's someone… who hurt her…"

"The Atem she was insulting the first time I met her?"

"Yes."

"Is it anything someone else can help her get over?"

"No, and yes," Jou shrugged. "But I'm pretty sure you'd be able to do it."

"Found it!" Honda exclaimed.

* * *

><p>While Anzu cooked, the guys sat down to play a little game. Yugi had already put everything up and since this was the time they would be celebrating Christmas together they had brought gifts which were placed in a neat pile in a corner. She hurried around for over two hours and only sat down once – for about five minutes.<p>

After they had eaten her very delicious food, as the guys exclaimed, they turned to a pretty simple game. _Truth or dare_. This was, of course, a plan from Yugi to make Atem wear that little gift they had all been betting on. Even Anzu had been in - it had been her idea, after all.

But the old (and unknowing) king of games was, after all, the king of games, and he knew how to survive in a game.

"Let's make it a bit more up to luck," he said and grabbed the empty bottle of coca cola on the floor. "What do you say?"

The four exchanged glances and he grinned. _I knew it, they're planning something._

"Sure," Anzu said, anything to see him in _that_. Of course, she knew it wouldn't be easy and he would put up a fight. Maybe not directly against_it_ but he knew something was up, she was sure of it, and he'd make their lives hell if they didn't take care.

Quickly, she grabbed it from his hand, grinning at his narrowing eyes – he had obviously been hoping to go first – and as they sat in a circle, she spun the bottle. It spun and spun and spun and spun and all their eyes were fixed on it. Who would it hit? Or rather, who would it turn to?

Yugi groaned. "Okay." He considered her for a moment. She could be as impish as him; they _had_ grown up together, but he wasn't sure if she would go all out on him. "I'll dare to take a dare."

The young dancer raised an eyebrow. "Oh, the puns," she muttered. "Never do some schoolboy drama with Jou again."

"Say what?" they both exclaimed.

"Seriously," she said, "you don't notice it but with the drama you pull off at times, some girls in our class are convinced that you are gay."

Honda and Atem snickered. "It's true," the gun freak added. "Been like that since the start."

"Fine!" Yugi snapped, already regretting that he had said dare. Then again she would have probably _asked_ if he was gay if he had picked truth.

"Don't worry, Yugi," she laughed, "we all know you have a thing for little Rebecca Hopkins."

Yugi's eyes narrowed. And Atem perked up. "Little? And who is that?"

The two ex-bullies smirked. "Yes, little," Honda said, "She's four years younger than Yugi and has a giant crush on him."

Jou nodded. "It's amazing that the little guy hasn't made a move," he grinned. "Chances are 100 % of success."

"I'm spinning the bottle now," Yugi said grimly.

"You're not getting out of this one," Jou said, "we'll continue later."

The bottle stopped at him, pointed at him with its empty neck. He cursed. "Well, seems like I'm not the only one stuck," Yugi said, smirking. "Pick."

Jou took it surprisingly easy, at least for the kind of guy he was. He didn't crawl on his hands and feet away from the grinning imp that was slowly growing horns and a tail – and was that a trident in the corner?

No he _calmly_ declared "I'M NOT LOSING TO YOU! _DARE!_ I PICK DARE!"

The others laughed. "Easy, man," Honda exclaimed, "it's just a game."

"No!" The blonde almost looked panicked. "This might as well be a Shadow Game, I swear! Don't you see the horns and the tail?"

"What?"

Everyone flinched and turned to Atem. He looked completely shocked. "What did you just say?"

Several people started talking, making excuses at the same time, the only two being silent were the two who looked alike. Atem was looking slightly put out of it and very suspicious. Yugi looked pretty annoyed and at the brink of giving up.

"Shall we continue the game?" he finally asked.

The three fell silent, all twitching nervously. The whole thing had been a pain in the neck, mostly because Jou was such a blabbermouth.

"Anyways," Yugi continued, "I want you to… tell your sister that you are dropping out of school to pursue a career in miming."

The others burst out laughing.

"Tell her what?"

"Oh c'mon, Jou!" Honda laughed. "You can do that. It's not like you have to let Kaiba date her or anything."

Jou sent him one of the most heated glares ever. "What did you just say?"

"That was a possibility too," Yugi said. "Would you rather do that? Because we could –"

"No!"

The little imp snickered and handed him his cell-phone. "Go ahead then?"

The next couple of hours were spent with great fun, with many very unexpected secrets revealed. However, the last secret that was revealed was asked in secret. Atem had the last chance and that one finally pointed to Anzu.

She picked the dare.

"I dare you to answer a question that I will ask you at some point when we are alone."

* * *

><p>Well... this chapter went down the drain for sure! I forgot what I wanted for this chappie half way THROUGH IT! ...well... SORRY about that. So basically this is just fiiller before the REAL action begins xD look forward to the last half. It's WAY better than the first and we're now halfway through it all.<p>

Thanks to my beta and thanks for the reviews xD looking forward to your reaction to this little piece.

See you next week

- Pen


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

><p>She felt really bad for using extra time while practicing.<p>

Even after Christmas and midterm exams, their little group still stayed together and life went on as it should. She was getting anxious over exams, but her friends had quickly picked up on this and were successfully distracting her. She also had to start worrying over her trip to New York after the summer. She was going to miss her friends, but this was her dream and she would surely see them again.

Shaking her head, she forced the gloomy thoughts to disappear and focused on the task at hand - finishing getting dressed as quickly as possible so she could meet up with Atem. They still had their tradition of walking home together and he had insisted on it even if some of his periods had been cancelled that day.

Sighing in relief, she pulled her pink jacket on and grabbed her school bag. She just had to pick up a book in her classroom and then she would be able to meet up with him by the entrance where he had told her that he was waiting.

From the classroom, she decided she would surprise him by sneaking out the back and suddenly appearing in front of him. He was probably pretty annoyed by now so he would probably have a priceless expression on his face. Or, at least, she hoped so.

The school was almost deserted, which really wasn't all that unexpected as it was already past five, so it was a surprise when she turned a corner and saw three guys walking toward her, laughing and teasing each other. Flinching, she realized that two of them were the ones she had told Jonouchi about.

_Just ignore them, walk past them and nothing will happen._

She had only taken a few steps into the hallway when all sound from them ceased and she grimaced before glancing up. They had stopped. "Well, if it isn't Mazaki Anzu-san," one drawled.

If she remembered correctly they were from class C, her year. She didn't like the look they were giving her. "Just the girl we were looking for," he continued as they slowly advanced on her, very slowly, so slowly even, that she didn't notice at first.

They were big, as tall as Jou and Honda and with more muscle. Bad. Why had she done this?

"Yeah," another continued. "You must have taken a detour. We looked for you in the gym."

She took a step back. _Stay silent, Anzu. _"What did you want from me?" _Idiot!_

"We wanted to know if you offered some of your capabilities."

She flinched, not only at knowing exactly what he meant, but also at his choice of words to indicate what he meant. There were better words for such things, or maybe she had just watched too many bad movies. He had, in any case. This was just so …. Ugh bad. But she really had to stay serious.

"Those male friends of yours are, of course, keeping it all to themselves," the first who had spoken said. "So we figured, with them guarding you so well, there must be something to steal."

"Like my friends would disrespect me like that," she spat. "Now, scram. I have other things to worry about!"

_Screw caution. It'll get me nowhere. Atem, please get impatient._

Anger appeared in their faces and they were over her like hawks. Had she been a normal girl they would have had the advantage at once. But she was not. She was an athlete with great knowledge of how to move her body, and Jou and Honda had, of course taught her a few things.

So she kicked one between the legs and used the diversion as he fell to the floor in cramps to try to get away. She made it a few running steps, almost feeling safe, when a hand grabbed hers and pushed her up against a wall.

"Oh no, you don't, missy."

* * *

><p>After checking his clock one last time, Atem decided to look for her. It wasn't weird that she was late whenever she was dancing and it completely unnerved him that he wasn't allowed to keep an eye on her whenever she was alone like that, so the fact that she was over half an hour late told him that something was wrong.<p>

First, he checked the gym. Nothing. The girls' locker room was open and empty, so she had left and taken a different route than usual. She wasn't in the classroom either.

Moving into another hallway, he saw something he had never wished to see in his life, and he cursed his decision to wait outside.

Three boys were standing over the struggling brunette, one holding her pink coat and another fighting her hands while trying to rid her of the white shirt she was wearing as part of her uniform. They were laughing at her futile attempts to free herself from her capture.

Anger rose in him like a fire started by a gas explosion and he uttered in a low tone of voice, while walking calmly toward them: "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

All four froze and Anzu flinched. She would, of course, be more afraid if she knew what he was planning to do to these three. They all turned and relaxed when they saw that it was "just another student," as one half whispered.

"Oh," one said in a cool voice, "don't tell me you haven't wished to see her without a few –" His sentence was cut off with a gurgling sound and his hands shot to his throat.

His friends' attention moved from Atem, and Anzu, to him and they stared in horror as his feet lifted from the ground. Anzu shot Atem a look, and knew immediately that he was the one behind it. He was practically standing as if he was strangling someone himself. His body was tense and his gaze filled with anger. Swallowing, she decided that she shouldn't waste her, or his, time but hurried to make her clothes presentable again. She'd have to wait for them to move a bit before she could move along the wall and over to him.

One of the two looked from their friend to Atem and he yelled in surprise, requiring to know what the hell he was doing.

_Better shut _him_ up at least_, she thought and kicked him in the shins. As she did, she felt satisfaction and adrenaline spread through her body. The guy she had kicked had slid to the floor with a whisper of "not again."

The last guy looked helplessly from his friends to Atem, to Anzu and back at Atem again. He took a bold step back and Atem's response was immediate: "if you run, you won't get far." With those words, smoke shot out from under all three guys and encased them. "Now… what to do with you," he muttered in a dark voice that sent chills down Anzu's spine.

Forcing her voice to work she muttered his name and had his attention immediately. Anger was replaced by worry and his muscles flexed as if he was ready to move to her side.

She stopped him. "Don't kill them."

He froze. "And don't kill their souls," she added.

Conflict replaced the worry in his eyes as a response and she held his gaze, pressing on with urgency in her voice. "I know what they were trying to do was wrong. I know what they have been doing was wrong, and I know what you are capable of, but _please_, just erase their memories and let's get out of here. We have to talk about this, which is far more important."

He blinked and seemed for a moment to regain control, but then the anger flared again and he gritted his teeth. A golden aura appeared around his body and the cocoons opened to reveal the frightened young men.

"I am going to remove your memories in a moment," Atem said, in his dark angry voice, "now thank me for not doing something far more horrible to you and thank _her_ for being so forgiving."

"We- we're s-sorry, and – we thank you," they said, as if in a trance. Anzu's eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion but she trusted him to keep his word.

The cocoons removed them from sight yet again and glowed with a yellow light before disappearing and the three young men fell to the floor. All were unconscious.

Atem himself sank to his knees and the golden light surrounding him disappeared. Exclaiming his name in surprise she hurried to his side to help him up. "Sorry," he muttered through gritted teeth as he leaned heavily on her, "I'm not so… used to using my powers, so they easily drain me."

"That was too much like shadow magic for my liking," she declared as she placed one of his arms over her shoulders.

"I knew you guys were keeping something from me," he told her in his now calm voice. "How are you?"

Deciding she would pick her jacket up the next day in the Lost And Found box, she started to move them down the hall. "I'm fine," she said, "and I could say the same about you. But… I guess I'm not the right one to explain everything to you."

"Oh?"

She smiled up at him. "That would be Yugi."

"Of course."

"Of course?" she repeated.

"Yeah," he said as they exited the building. "We're so alike in appearances that I should have known something was up."

"Do you even have any ideas what it is we'll be telling you?"

"Nope." His voice was a bit slurred, almost as if he was getting drunk. What the?

"Atem? Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah," he hesitated. "As I said, I don't use my powers that often so when I do my body can't handle the energy loss and either I fall asleep or I get light headed."

"Should we do this another day?"

"No. It has already been too long."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>okay xD soooo here came a bit of action. I hope you enjoyed it. I had he betaed version on my pc for a while but finally got around to publishing it :) so this is an early start on the weekend. Enjoy<p>

Thanks for reviews and thanks to my beta!

See you soon

- Pen


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

><p>It was a great piece of luck that her mother was out of town on this particular day. She was visiting her sister in Tokyo and wouldn't be home in a week.<p>

She had trouble getting the door open with Atem resting so heavily on her shoulders, but she managed. It was an even harder task to get him up the stairs and into her room, where she placed him on her bed.

He grinned weakly up at her. "I never thought this would be the reason behind my first time on a girl's bed."

"Don't start sounding like Jou or Yugi," she said as she rolled her eyes. "I'll get you an aspirin and some water."

She also grabbed the phone on her way up, but had trouble balancing all those things so she almost dropped it. Finally, she decided to place it under her arm and she hurried up the stairs once more.

Placing the two pills and the water in his hands, she told him that she would be right back.

She was gone for a while after that. He could half hear her through the door, mumbling in a tone of voice he couldn't quite place. He took the aspirin and slowly felt its powers help him to get out of a state of mind that he hated.

He didn't have the concentration to explain it to her in detail, but whenever he used this kind of magic, the darkness of it tried to consume him, something he had seen done to men in another life, so when he got free from its grip once again, his willpower and concentration were completely thinned. At times, he just collapsed from exhaustion, but not this time. He had something to take care of first, so, instead, he felt slightly drunk. He couldn't completely control what he was saying, or his limbs for that matter, and the sounds around him weren't always clear.

After a little while, and still the absence of Anzu, he was able to sit up. He was starting to worry. There were many things that could go wrong from this point on. The fact that what she knew, what his friends knew, had something to do with him, was a fantastic coincidence, and he felt kind of thankful for it, as she would have freaked if she had not seen magic before, which she obviously had. But what if the girl he had feelings for, and her friends, his friends, were not at all what they told him they were? What if they were … someone who wanted his powers?

Shaking his head, he tried to force the thoughts out of his mind. He didn't want that.

Something glowed on her desk. It caught his eyes and he rose. He was still feeling rather uncertain about his balance, so he took small steps.

It was a silver cartouche…. Why did she have that?

* * *

><p>"Sorry this took so long." She closed the door behind her and turned to an empty bed. "It was hard to get in touch with –"<p>

A hand touched her shoulder and she spun, surprised that he had moved from the bed. "Did I surprise you?"

"Y-yeah," she breathed. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"You have a weird look on your face. Is something wrong?"

He hesitated. "Why do you have that cartouche?"

"It's… uh…" she rubbed her neck nervously and sat down on her bed with a heavy sigh. "It's Yugi who should be telling you this story," she told him. "I want to, but I'm not the right person to tell you."

"So it plays a part?"

She nodded. "They'll be here soon enough."

He nodded. "Okay."

* * *

><p>They all arrived at the same, had probably met up before going to Anzu's. They all had very serious expressions on their faces, and Atem immediately detected fear in their beings, that he had noticed before, but it had flared now. They were afraid that he wasn't their friend.<p>

While they waited, she had told him exactly what she had told them on the phone; she had left nothing out. At least, when it came to his powers – she refused to tell anyone about what exactly had happened before he had appeared.

The first thing that happened was that Jou, very uncharacteristically, swooped her up into a bear hug and she burst out crying. They stood there in the hall for a quarter of an hour while the others left them alone. Jou had been Yugi's best friend for almost three years, but something had happened, Atem knew as much, and now the blue eyed girl and the blonde were as close as he and Mana had been.

There was a pang in his heart as he saw what happened, for he had realized months earlier that he wanted her to trust him enough to show him when she was this down. He had realized that she was still frightened over what had happened and respected her strength, as she was even able to touch another man after this. Or maybe she just trusted her friends so much that she knew they would never touch her in that way.

The other two quickly pulled him into the living room, where they sat down in the couch.

"Okay," Yugi said, sighed and rubbed his temples. "We've been waiting for this for over half a year… and now that the time is here my nerves are suddenly wrecked."

"Then let me have the honour," Honda said, "We're assuming that you are not some evil villain who is just here to get clues to our friend's whereabouts. And since you obviously have some magic and that sadistic streak that you had to begin with -"

"To begin with?"

"I'll get there," Honda hesitated, "well, Yugi will. We are assuming that you are indeed our friend. You _are_ Atemu, son of Aknamkanon, Pharaoh and heir to the Millennium Puzzle, right?"

"I would say the same if I was someone ready to exploit you, wouldn't I?" he shrugged. "But I am, and I would like to know how you know so much about me?"

"We'll get there," Jou said as he gently pushed Anzu inside. "But before we get to it, there is something we would like to know."

"Go on?"

"How are you here? We saw you off about a year ago," Jou said. "You had made your decision to stay in the afterlife, so why come back here, and how is it possible?"

Atem looked confused at this. "I've been living for the last 19 years," he said, looking fairly troubled. "But… I have memories from the first time I lived, where I died defeated by Zork."

He noticed that several of them shook their heads. Anzu was still standing in the door trying to remove all traces of tears and he wanted nothing more than to quit this useless conversation and help her get over the horrible experience. He felt like he had failed her.

"Your soul was sealed inside the millennium puzzle," Yugi finally spoke. "It was your punishment for not defeating Zork. It was your duty and you would be sealed until the time was right – which was almost four years ago. I was the one to complete that puzzle and I was blessed with the Shadow Games." From there, he accounted accurately for all that happened. The others stayed silent, but once in a while someone would add something.

When they were finished, they looked at him hopefully, as if they had hoped that all this would somehow have triggered his memory. It had not. But… "This does make sense," he muttered. "And… of course, if I was to be reincarnated, which I obviously have been, then the gods would make sure that I would not have come into contact with you until the time was right – until my soul had departed once more."

The others nodded.

"Which is also why I don't know anything about Duel Monsters tournaments," he added, "but… as it is my soul, there should be a trigger to those memories."

Something appeared in front of his face, something silvery. "How about this?" Anzu asked in a quiet voice. "You took it with you when you went into the Afterlife, but it appeared on my desk when you came to Domino… I haven't dared to touch it."

It was the cartouche he had noticed. His hand was already moving towards it and he had a feeling that it was his. But then his hand stopped. "Why did it appear on your desk and not Yugi's? And why would this trigger my memories?"

She hesitated. "I gave it to you when it was still blank," she told him, "so that when you got your name back, you could write it down there and then never forget it. We were the ones who wrote it there, Yugi, Honda, Jou and I, and when you saw it you remembered everything that you had forgotten inside the Puzzle."

His hand moved out and snatched it from her, and a light exploded in the living room.

Two people were suddenly standing in front of them. A woman with long flowing black hair and shining green eyes and a man with his arm around her. His hair was as long and black as hers, but it was tied in a low ponytail.

"Well," the woman said. "Took you long enough."

The five friends exchanged looks.

"And I thought you were a smart girl, Anzu," she chided. "You should have given it to him immediately."

"Weren't you the one who said that it wouldn't be easy for him to get those memories back?" the man said. He was smirking and it was obvious that he was teasing her.

"Oh shut up," she said, elbowing him in the stomach.

"It's your own fault."

"Umm… sorry to be disrespectful but… who are you?" Yugi asked.

"I am Isis and this is my husband, Osiris," she said. "We're the reason he is here."

"She lost a game."

He got a good look for that one.

"Anyways," she said, turning back to Atem, "My Pharaoh, I shall make this quick." She was suddenly in front of him with a hand over his face. Her hand shone so brightly that they were blinded for a moment. When they could see again the two gods had disappeared. Isis' last words hung in the air:

"_Good luck_."

Rubbing her eyes Anzu slowly focused. She was still standing beside the old spirit and when she looked to see if he was alright he was staring at her with an expression on his face that she had never seen before. His hand gripped hers for a moment and something was placed in it.

"Everyone alive, identify yourself," Honda ordered.

The two other guys groaned and rubbed their eyes and Anzu forced a laugh.

"You okay, Atem?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah… it's just weird," he muttered. "She showed me the memories I was not supposed to have had until after I met you."

"So the cartouche was the trigger?" Jou asked. "Good job, Anzu."

"Th-thanks," she muttered, still dumbstruck over what Atem had done.

"So our friend is completely back," Honda grinned, and the rest of the day was filled with a bit of catching up as their friend was suddenly extremely interested in what had been going on since he had "died".

* * *

><p>Well, here we are :) only one chapter and the epilogue remaining. Can you see the end nearing?<p>

Just published new story :) if you're a Princess Tutu fan go read it xD

Thanks for reviews and thanks to my beta!

- Pen


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

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><p>The next few weeks were a blur to Atem and he was suddenly glad that his parents were on business trips, each in a different part of the world. Not that they ever paid much attention to anything, but with all the memories that were suddenly flowing through his mind and all the mixed feelings he had to settle with he was happy that he had the big appartment to himself. It wasn't that he had actually spent three thousand years in the puzzle. His soul had laid dormant until Yugi had triggered it by solving the old artifact, but those three years he had spent with his friends was enough to make anyone dizzy when they were suddenly appearing in his mind. And then there were the memories of the afterlife, not that he could speak of those, he discovered, but these especially were the ones that haunted him the most. They were filled with a pain he did not remember from any other time in his life. Longing and loneliness.<p>

He knew now why he had been so attached to Anzu from the first time he laid eyes on her. He also knew why he and Yugi looked so familiar and why Seto Kaiba, who was a reincarnation of one of his most faithful priests, was suddenly so cold towards him. Well, it wasn't like he remembered his earlier life so it couldn't be helped. Ryou Bakura was a true example of that.

Nothing much had changed between his friends, other than he now knew exactly why they had been so secretive and this, of course, had stopped now that there were no secrets between them. Only one thing seemed to be missing. Anzu was more distant and found more excuses not to hang out with them. The hurt he had seen in her eyes the first few weeks he had been in Domino had returned and he knew exactly why she was distancing herself from him. He had hurt her too many times now. He had avoided her - and his own - emotions while being in Yugi's body mainly because he had been in Yugi's body and he knew of the feelings the small boy had had for their female friend. This was obviously over now, with Rebecca in the picture and he had to admit that the two fit together.

He knew, though, that he had to act soon if he wanted to get all this solved before exams were over them. After graduation she would move to New York and he wasn't sure they'd be able to have a relationship with that distance between them, but he knew that he could no longer stand seeing her hurt.

"_What?_"

A teasing smirk graced his lips. "No need to snap like that," he told her.

"Well, when someone corners you suddenly you have every right to snap," she said, glaring at him. He hadn't just cornered her in an empty hallway, but had pulled her into one of janitor's closets. "_Especially_after what happened last month."

"Oh, that's right," he said. "Last _month_, which is also the last time we had a conversation that contained more than a few syllables."

She opened her mouth to retaliate but after a few seconds of not being able to think of anything she closed it again and looked away. "Let me out, Atem."

"Speaking of names," he said and leaned down to look her in the eye. "I guess the one you had been angry at all that time were really me."

She caught his gaze and glared at him. "Yeah. So?"

"Could have told me."

"When? After you suddenly appeared in our lives again? Before you crossed over? When, Atem?"

He shook his head, closed his eyes with a smile. "How about a month ago? When you didn't have an excuse not to –"

"Not to what? Tell you how much you've hurt me? Confessing my undying love for you? What, Atem?"

His smirk widened just a little and she was suddenly aware of how close they were. Not only was he leaning over her, both his hands on either side of her face and his eyes were basically the only thing in the line of her sight. She could feel his breath on her face and it was making her uncomfortable, but she was caught between him and the wall and could do nothing.

"_Are_ you trying to confess your undying love for me?"

"Do you not understand sarcasm?"

"So that giddy little girl I've been flirting with for the last half year is what? A hallucination?"

"Giddy little –?" She spluttered at the insult, though it wasn't meant as an insult and she knew it. "Who do you think you are?"

He removed his face a little from her. "Well, for starters I'm a reincarnation of an ancient pharaoh–"

"Cut the crap," she snapped. "You have the _nerve_ to – to – to come here and – and –" His lips caught her in a brief lock and then let go. She was dazed for a moment, before snapping out of it. "And kiss me! Damn you!" she empathized the last by hitting him in the chest.

"Whoa, whoa," he laughed. "No need to get violent. Save it for Jou and Honda."

She crossed her arms and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Well, those idiots aren't likely to kiss me, now are they?"

He snorted a laugh and leaned a little closer, again. Her hands moved in front of her face, she didn't want him to kiss her, she didn't want to. "Just… leave me alone, please," she sighed. "I won't be able to … to take another of your–"

"Hey," he straightened and grabbed her hands. For a moment he just held on to them before pulling them down. "I'm alive, I'm human, I won't be going away again. I won't hu –"

"Please don't say it," she whispered, cutting him off. "Besides… I have New York in a few months and you'll be staying in Japan. This will hurt no matter what and it'll be easier–"

"No it won't."

His voice was cold and serious and it immediately cut her off. Dark blue met azure and her breath was caught. _Damn him, why was he so, so –_

His lips caught her ones once again and it wasn't only her breath that was stolen away. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't feel anything, but his lips on hers and his hands… they weren't on, they weren't holding on to her hands anymore.

She gently pushed on his chest and it took a moment for him to move away, but he respected her, she knew he did, and he backed away, slowly. "Hands," she breathed, and he jumped making her laugh.

He removed his hands from her ribs again in an agonizing slow way. It was, in some way, very unbearable the way he touched her. He seemed unwilling to not be near her, although she had no idea where that came from. Probably the way he touched her. The lingering way he removed his hands from her sides, the way he grabbed her hands one more.

"Atem…" she didn't know what to say.

"You know…" he stopped himself for a moment. "I decided… the day you insulted me on the roof. The day I walked you home. I saw, in your eyes, a girl who looked so incredibly hurt and alone, sitting on her bed crying. And I decided that I was going to stop that hurting no matter what. I renewed that promise to you when I gave you the ankh."

"But… what are we gonna do? Graduation is slowly nearing and… and I have to go to New York, I've already gotten a contract."

"Then I'll just have to get into a university in New York."

She gaped at him and he just smirked. "What?" He sighed. "Look, it's not going to be a problem. Mom is Japanese and dad is the Egyptian, I guess that's really the one that shows. I grew up in New York, so I know the place. I won't have a problem…"

"But… what about the guys? Yugi. You two have become really close again after you got the rest of your memories back."

"So… it's between you and… the guys," he considered it for a moment and then caught her off guard. "They'll just have to live without us, won't they?"

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><p>Well, here we go. Last thing in this series. Epilogue coming up next Sunday. Sorry for the late update my beta has been out of commission for a while. She's back now, and I'm grateful.<p>

To tell you the truth I've been growing more and more annoyed with this series and didn't actually feel like posting the last chapters. But I thought I may as well as I've already written them

Until then

- Pen


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

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><p>"Oh, come on, 'Zoo!" Jou whined. "Don't cry how am I supposed to keep the mask when my best friend is crying her eyes out."<p>

The airport was filled with busy people, mostly males in suits on their way to the next job, but also Japanese tourists on their way to different attractions, mainly in the west. They were standing outside the cafeteria, a small group of friends.

"But – but – but we won't be able to–" He cut her off by sweeping her into a fierce hug.

"You are not allowed to cry," he insisted. "This is the beginning of what you've been dreaming for for so long! How can you cry? Going to New York is all you ever talk about."

"But –"

"Jou is right," Yugi stepped in. "How can you be unhappy on this day, of all days? And it's not like you'll be all alone. You have Atem with you, you'll be living with Rebecca too. How can you be sad?"

"My best friends will be left behind," she muttered and let go of Jou.

"You'll see us at Christmas," Honda said and put a hand on her shoulder. "And next summer, too."

"Yeah." Jou chimed in. "Seems like something good came out of Atem having rich parents–" he coughed into his sleeve "-again."

The guy in question threw an arm over his friend's shoulder. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Dude, you were a pharaoh."

The others laughed as the flight to New York was announced and it was time to say good-bye. It was hardest on Anzu and though she tried her best not to cry, she did so anyways. She gave each of them two hugs and promised Yugi to say hi to Rebecca.

They waved good-bye to the others as they walked through security.

"I'm really going to miss them," Anzu whispered as she grabbed her bag.

Atem took her hand. "Don't worry," he told her. "Time passes by so fast, we'll all be together again before we know it. And you can always call them."

"True."

She smiled and stole a kiss from him as they stood in line where they had to show their tickets. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Oh, I don't know." She grinned. "All sorts of things."

He squeezed her hand. "Ready for a new life?"

"Not walking through the gate again, are we?"

This time he laughed. "No. I have a promise to keep after all."

"Good."

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><p>Here we go, the end to this horrible little thing<p>

I have another YGO fic planned but it'll probably be a while.

Thanks for your reviews and thanks to my betas.

Until next time

- Pen


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